Battle Of Hudson covers the Rangers and Devils, who's intense rivalry heated up in the 90's. With fresh faces added, they battle for supremacy in NYC and NJ..
Well, who didn’t see that coming? The Rangers aren’t in Tampa’s class. So, they got struck by a Lightning Bolt in a predictable 6-3 loss. It came in the form of a Steven Stamkos hat trick. He scored numbers 13, 14 and 15 to highlight the Lightning home win. Ryan McDonagh also scored to add further insult to injury.
There will be nights like this. Especially against quality competition. There’s a reason Tampa Bay is now a NHL best 24-7-1 with 49 points. They are a handful. Even with veteran backup Louis Domingue filling in for Andrei Vasilevskiy, it doesn’t matter. Not the way the Bolts score goals. They have so many weapons. What’s gonna happen when they face the Maple Leafs in a all too likely Conference Semifinal due to the silly playoff format?
Stamkos got two of the three goals on the power play. That’s where he’s always been most dangerous. He possesses that lethal right-handed one-timer from the off wing in the circle that can do damage. It’s fun to watch if it’s not against your team. So, after Kevin Hayes gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead, it was bad news when Marc Staal took down Nikita Kucherov, who had a step coming out of his own zone.
What came next was the patented Victor Hedman pass across for that filthy Stamkos one-timer by Henrik Lundqvist. J.T. Miller picked up the secondary assist. To their credit, the Rangers played a good first period by getting two of the three goals. The second again came from Hayes on a play created by him off diligent checking. He pressured the puck behind the net for a steal. Then went to the dirty area to deposit Jimmy Vesey’s loose change for his second of the game. He could’ve had a hat trick if he looked shot more.
A Neal Pionk tripping minor resulted in another Stamkos power play goal from Hedman and Brayden Point at 6:19 of the second. That tied the game. At that point, it was 2-2 against the league’s best. Given their track record away from MSG, you take it. McDonagh made it 3-2 from Point and Kucherov. I didn’t see that one. I was out at a friend’s with Justin. I didn’t miss anything. The Rangers had their usual second period on the road, getting outscored 2-0 and outshot 16-5. Through two periods, shots were 29-13.
They didn’t give up because there’s no quit in this group under coach David Quinn. It stayed a one-goal game for a bit in the third. However, a rare Fredrik Claesson misplay in his own end led directly to a Anthony Cirelli unassisted goal. Claesson lost control of the puck, resulting in Cirelli taking a pass from Erik Cernak (who???) and quickly going forehand deke on a surprised Lundqvist. That made it 4-2 with 9:43 left.
On the very next shift, we flipped back from watching the Baseball Winter Meetings just in time to see Stamkos one-time home his third for the hat trick. That put it out of reach. It’s funny that the Lightning captain has become an afterthought due to Point and Kucherov. He just isn’t. The problem is you can’t stop everyone. Not when you take bad penalties like the Rangers took.
Jesper Fast did cut it to 5-3 on a Filip Chytil set up with 2:26 to go. But it just teased the ending. Hayes passed up a open shot with Lundqvist pulled. He passed for Pionk, who couldn’t keep the puck in. It was a low percentage play. Not long after, Cirelli backhanded a empty netter for the final margin with 39 seconds left.
There isn’t much more to add. Though we did find out Kevin Shattenkirk got hurt. Oh great. It could be more missed time for the free agent bust who came home. Why didn’t they let the Devils have him? Sorry Hasan. I’m tired of seeing him do nothing for the money he makes. Oh well.
The good news is they have off until Friday when Arizona visits MSG without Antti Raanta. I won’t say anything else about it. It’s too aggravating.
BONY 3 Stars:
3rd 🌟 Anthony Cirelli, Bolts (2 goals-7th, 8th)
2nd 🌟 Kevin Hayes, NYR (2 goals-6th, 7th, 5 shots, +2 in 20:25)
1st 🌟 Steven Stamkos, Bolts (hat trick-13, 14,15 including 2 PPG’s)
Tonight, the Rangers have a very tough challenge ahead when they visit the East leading Lightning. If they play like Saturday night, it’ll be a disaster. You can’t play one good period like they got away with in the wild and wacky 5-4 shootout win over lousy Florida.
Do that against the more structured and talented Bolts and it won’t bode well. Not when they’re facing a very high scoring team that boasts two of the top players in the league in high flying Nikita Kucherov and top finisher Brayden Point. Point centers Kucherov and Tyler Johnson on the new Triplets line. They’re even harder to stop. With Point among the league leaders with 21 goals and 39 points, and Kucherov on a tear that has the lethal Russian up to 44 points (12-32-44). Johnson is the forgotten guy, who sneaks up on you with a dozen markers and 10 assists.
Steven Stamkos has quietly improved since a slow start. The Lightning captain enters with 30 points (12-18-30), playing mainly with Yanni Gourde. It can either be J.T. Miller or Ondrej Palat on the left side. The problem is whoever is on the third line gives them an advantage. They also have a good rookie in Mathieu Joseph, who has nine goals. A good forechecker, he finished checks and capable of contributing.
Alex Killorn, Cedric Paquette, Ryan Callahan and Anthony Cirelli are all solid secondary pieces who play in checking roles, including the penalty kill.
Tampa is led by Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh on the blueline. Imagine having two great left skating D on your first two pairs. The Rangers had McDonagh until that deadline deal with Miller that netted rookie Brett Howden, prospect Libor Hajek and a first round pick. They are committed to the rebuild. Too bad they couldn’t pry Cal Foote or Taylor Raddysh. Both are doing well in the Bolts’ AHL affiliate in Syracuse.
McDonagh is having a Norris kind of season. While he won’t put up the gaudy numbers of Morgan Rielly or Thomas Chabot, the former captain is playing sound two-way hockey like he did in New York City. He leads Tampa defensemen with 18 assists and 20 points along with a team best plus-18 rating. Mac is happy to be on another Stanley Cup contender.
It’s gotta be odd being reunited with former teammates Dan Girardi, Anton Stralman, Callahan with Miller joining him on Rangers South. I’m sure it’s a lot of fun for those guys. Hopefully, it results in a Cup. They deserve it.
The funny thing about the Lightning is they’re doing all this winning without one of their best players. Starter Andrei Vasilevskiy remains out due to injury. It’s been all Louis Domingue in net. The former Coyote has 13 wins in 17 starts. His numbers aren’t great, but they don’t have to be as long as he gets good run support and makes key saves. So, he has a 2.95 GAA and .906 save percentage without a shutout.
In other words, the Rangers should be able to get to him. They’ll have to possess the puck and have some attack time in order to do so. The way the Lightning play with all their skill, it’ll be some test for a team still without a road win in regulation or even three-on-three overtime. They are pretty successful in shootouts winning four times away from MSG.
So, do they have a chance? Well, the odds are better than Jim Carrey’s memorable Lloyd character with Mary in Dumb and Dumber.
The game starts soon. We’ll get back to you later.
Just when you think you’d seen it all, a game like yesterday happens where it’s so preposterous you start believing in divine intervention and curses.
Yesterday wasn’t just another frustrating loss after regulation (this time in a shootout), dropping the Devils’ season record to 0-6 in extra time. It’s a loss that has to get the team thinking it’s cursed in overtime, and Cory Schneider vexed in getting a win period. Cory starting is the reason I really didn’t watch much of this game – I just couldn’t deal with seeing him for a full game, and the first period seemingly justified that decision when the team scored three goals, including two by Kyle Palmieri playing against the team he started his career with…but it only led to a tie at the end of the first period because of our usual bad goaltending and bad defense. To wit:
Goal #1: Long-range screen that Cory couldn’t adjust to
Goal #2: An own goal off of Stefan Noesen that was only the prelude to worse ahead
Goal #3: A short-side special which you could argue was the only bad one Cory allowed during the hockey game. Even on that goal, Damon Severson dissapeared drifting toward the offensive zone on a delayed penalty rather than covering down low.
I was actually half-expecting to see that Keith Kinkaid was coming in for Cory after that first period, especially since the game was still winnable given the Devils were scoring against Ducks backup Ryan Miller. But no, the only one benched was Noesen – for the entire second period after not only that own goal but for poor play in general. Even when Brett Seney scored off a rebound in the middle of the second period which got Miller pulled in favor of John Gibson, I didn’t really believe we were going to win the game. How could I? A one-goal lead going into the third period is basically like playing with a tie.
Yet not even I could believe just how we were going to blow this one.
I didn’t actually turn it on until I saw it was midway through the third period and I saw the game was already tied…figures. For some reason I kept it on long enough to see the coup de grace hideous goal of the night – from Andy Greene. After killing off a Ducks penalty, Schneider actually made a great save off a rebound, only to be upended by his own defenseman who unconscionably tried to swat the puck over the net with his stick and wound up perfectly depositing the puck IN the net. If you just want to see this goal, FF to about six minutes of the game highlight above, you’ll laugh if you don’t cry. My annoyance turned into utter disbelief when I found out the tying goal was also deflected past Cory by another Devils defenseman (Ben Lovejoy). These weren’t just unlucky deflections or brilliant bank plays Wayne Gretzky-style, these were actual, honest-to-goodness own goals.
Seriously now, did Cory drink some of Jobu’s rum before the season?
I turned it back off till the end of regulation when once again Marcus Johansson came up with some 6-on-5 magic to tie the game in the last minute, salvaging a point and another chance to finally get Cory off the win schneid in 2018 (no I’m no longer counting the playoff win, especially since the team themselves seems bothered by Cory being 0-for-2018). I had to watch the OT even though I knew what was coming. Ironically Cory actually made a handful of great saves to finally get the Devils through OT to a shootout, but the shootout proved no luckier than 3-on-3 has been this season as Palmieri and Taylor Hall fired blanks while Cory gave up two shootout goals, and once again lost in his personal 2018 from hell.
While it’s hard to really have sympathy for Cory given his record and the fact five goals went in plus two in the shootout, fact is 99% of the time when you score five goals and give up ‘only’ one clunker you should win a game. This is just never going to end, is it? Maybe when 2018 ends. You can tell the team themselves is pressing just by the fact they somehow scored three own-goals on Cory. I’ve never seen that in hockey or soccer before, and I never want to again.
What would a birthday be without some hockey? Well, in my case, not as fun. The Rangers played on my birthday. This time, it came on the road that hasn’t been too friendly. They entered tonight’s match with only three wins in their first 13 away games. Naturally, all three were via the shootout.
Was it any surprise that the fourth road win came in the shootout by a score of 3-1 against a frustrated Roberto Luongo, who stormed off the ice following a Rangers 5-4 win in the skill competition? Of course not. It was amusing and confusing action with over 15,000 fans that included plenty of Rangers jerseys at BB&T Center.
For the Blueshirts, it was essential to come away with the second point. Something Henrik Lundqvist touched on in a fascinating postgame. He really is a great team guy, who takes responsibility when he feels he let in a couple of bad goals. I didn’t view it that way. Besides, he more than made up for it in a lopsided overtime that looked like a cardinal copy of what Winnipeg did last weekend. The only difference is all three Rangers shooters torched Luongo to end a three-game losing streak.
It wasn’t a Picasso or Renoir. That’s okay. We have to be patient and understand that this is a young team that will make mistakes. In some games, they can overcome them. In others, not as much. I know coach David Quinn will point out the mistakes to his team. Especially the two bad penalties by vets Marc Staal and Mika Zibanejad, which resulted in predictable power play goals from one of the best scoring opponents on the man-advantage. If Florida had a better defensive system under second-year coach Bob Boughner, they would be much better.
Look at who the skill they boast in goalscorer Aleksander Barkov, Mike Hoffman, Jonathan Huberdeau and Evgenii Dadonov. Keith Yandle picked the Ranger penalty kill apart recording a power play goal and power play assist. He had a great game, finishing with a goal and two assists. Huberdeau recorded his seventh multi-point game, going 1-2-3. Hoffman had two helpers and both Barkov and Aaron Ekblad tallied. So, every key player for the Cats got on the score sheet.
The Rangers took a quick 2-0 lead on goals from Zibanejad and Vladislav Namestnikov. Zibanejad was able to get to a rebound of a Kevin Hayes shot that Jimmy Vesey got a piece of for his ninth. With Chris Kreider off for a head scratching offensive zone minor for interference, it was the penalty kill that delivered. Following a Fredrik Claesson clear, Hayes outhustled and out-muscled Barkov to feed Namestnikov in front for the team’s seventh shorthanded goal. Only Namestnikov’s third of the season. But he has worked hard and made a nice forehand deke for his first career shorthanded goal past Luongo.
After playing a superb first period limiting the Panthers to seven shots, the Rangers reverted in a dreadful second. Florida has been a good second period club, scoring and giving up a lot of goals. An indication of why they’re mediocre. They can score if you open the door. A Staal interference minor 11 seconds into the second opened it up. It took the Cats only 46 seconds to score on the power play. A Yandle shot from the right point beat Lundqvist with Barkov in front. I thought he may have tipped it, but Yandle got it. He leads the league in power play points. Do you think our former coach realizes how badly he misused him?
A few minutes later, Huberdeau tied the game with his eighth from Yandle. They took advantage of a Zibanejad mistake. However, the Rangers came back 2:14 later to retake the lead thanks to some excellent work in front from Matt Beleskey. After Brady Skjei took a Tony DeAngelo pass, he didn’t hesitate to shoot the puck, which Beleskey redirected for his first of the season in just his second game. Superb job by him. The fourth line had some strong shifts. Beleskey definitely earned another game. Steven Fogarty was solid too. Lias Andersson was okay.
Before the period concluded, a very bad Skjei turnover allowed the Cats to tie it at three. Ekblad converted his seventh from Huberdeau and Dadonov at 18:20. DeAngelo went down and that didn’t prevent the pass across for the easy Ekblad goal. Frustrating in a bad period that saw Florida outshoot the Rangers 13-5. They outscored them 3-1.
Claesson scored unassisted early in the third to give them another lead. But they couldn’t hold it. On their fourth power play with Zibanejad off for tripping Huberdeau, Florida spread it out. After working the puck around for seemingly ever, they tired the four Ranger penalty killers out. Hoffman and Yandle combined to feed Barkov in the slot. He stepped out and drove a snapshot past Lundqvist that went high glove, inside the goalpost. He used Neal Pionk as a screen too with the puck changing direction for his 11th on the power play with 9:09 left in regulation.
There really wasn’t much in terms of offense the rest of the period. The Rangers only mustered 10 shots in the final 40 minutes after getting a dozen in the first. That won’t get it done. They were lucky to take it to three-on-three and even luckier to win in the shootout.
If not for some amazing saves by an acrobatic Lundqvist, they never have the opportunity to steal the extra point. Florida’s skilled skaters overwhelmed them until the near end. Namestnikov thought he won it with over 11 seconds remaining, but it was clear as day that as he took the puck to the net, it went in off his glove. Well, it was clear to everyone in the arena except Joe Michelleti. LMAO he may want to try out a new pair of glasses.
So, it went to the skill competition. In it, the Rangers shooters knew that Luongo would expect their usual moves. Both Zibanejad and Kevin Shattenkirk changed it up to catch Luongo by surprise. Instead of deking and going forehand high glove, Zibanejad went backhand instead for an easy goal in the top of the first. Following a Barkov miss, Shattenkirk beat Luongo with a wrist shot low instead of deking. After Huberdeau extended it by going five-hole on Lundqvist, Hayes put on a series of fakes before tucking home a forehand to leave Luongo irate.
Game. Set. Match. The Rangers improved to 14-12-3 with 31 points. They still only have nine wins in regulation or overtime. But they remain a pleasant surprise due to being relentless. It might not always be pretty, but it doesn’t have to be.
BONY THREE STARS:
3rd 🌟 Keith Yandle, Panthers (5th of season, 2 helpers against former team)
2nd 🌟 Kevin Hayes, Rangers (2 assists plus the shootout clincher in another good game while shifting to the wing on the top line)
1st 🌟 Jonathan Huberdeau, Panthers (11th goal, 2 assists giving him 17 points over his last 8 games)
The vacation is over. Well, it sure felt like it. The Rangers had the week off until this weekend. Oh. They practiced a lot. When you lose five of six including two brutal performances in back-to-back losses at Montreal and home against Winnipeg, it’s expected.
Coach David Quinn isn’t running a country club. So, the team spent plenty of time working on correcting the mistakes that crept into their game following Thanksgiving. When they play for the first time since last Sunday at the Panthers, let’s see how they respond. Will the good work habits the Garden Faithful got used to return? That is the question as the 13-12-3 Blueshirts enter tonight’s match in Florida.
Their spirit should be warmer at least. Especially given the cold 30 degree temperatures we’re having as old man winter takes over soon. On my birthday no less, at least it’s sunny outside. That suits me just fine. Can the team get a win for me? It would be nice.
What also would be nice is a victory on the road. Wins away from MSG have been tough to come by this season. The Rangers are a dismal 3-8-2 on the road. In fact, they haven’t won away from The Garden since a 5-4 shootout win at Columbus on Nov. 10. All three of their road wins have come in the shootout. They also beat the Sharks and Ducks. Since 11/10, they’re 0-4-0 on the road having been outscored 19-7 in regulation losses at the Islanders (5-7), Flyers (0-4), Senators (0-3), and the Canadiens (2-5). A 12-2 combined score in the last three defeats that saw them get shutout twice is discouraging along with the usual clunker at the House of Horrors.
Maybe the Dads being on the road trip can bring them some luck. It did in one cool aspect.
With the Eastern leading Lightning on Monday night, it’ll only get harder. That isn’t to say the Panthers will be an easy opponent later. An unpredictable team that comes in 11-11-5 with a disappointing 27 points that’s tied with the Senators for last in the Atlantic, Florida is capable of scoring goals in bunches due to the talent of Alexander Barkov, Evgenii Dadonov, Jonathan Huberdeau and impressive former Senator Mike Hoffman. Even without the injured Vincent Trocheck, they boast plenty of skilled skaters who can be dangerous. Throw in blueliners Keith Yandle and Aaron Ekblad and you have some balance that can be lethal on odd-man rushes and the power play.
The Blueshirts want to stay away from a run and gun game with the Cats. They also don’t want to take unnecessary penalties like the foolish one Brendan Smith took at the start of the third period to set Winnipeg’s explosive comeback from three goals down in motion last Sunday. Smith will likely be in the press box with Brady Skjei returning to the lineup following a one game benching. He’s expected to pair with Tony DeAngelo. That would mean the usual with Marc Staal and Neal Pionk along with Fredrik Claesson and Kevin Shattenkirk, who for some reason can’t escape the third pair. I understand that Claesson has been a good fit with him, but I’d like to see Quinn try Shattenkirk with Skjei at some point.
Adam McQuaid practiced this week. He’s close to returning, which would give Quinn another option.
For tonight, Quinn is gonna try Ryan Strome as the second line center, moving Kevin Hayes to the right wing on a line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. If it works, that combines their top three forwards. Hayes has been used on the wing before with mixed results. Strome will center Jimmy Vesey and Filip Chytil. Vladislav Namestnikov returns and will play with Brett Howden and Jesper Fast. Working on the fourth line will be Steven Fogarty with Lias Andersson and Matt Beleskey.
Mats Zuccarello has decided to hold off on returning. He wants to play it safe after coming back too soon twice in losses at the Isles and Flyers. Groin injuries can be tricky. Maybe he’ll suit up on Monday.
Pavel Buchnevich isn’t ready quite yet. He didn’t make the trip. That’s too bad. They definitely miss him. Hopefully when the team returns home for Arizona next Friday, he’ll be back.
Henrik Lundqvist makes the start against Roberto Luongo. The two active leaders in wins. Lundqvist has won nine games with a 2.63 goals-against-average (GAA) and .921 save percentage despite seeing the most shots against in his career. He’s up to 440 wins, ranking seventh all-time on the career wins list. He needs five more to tie Terry Sawchuk. Luongo comes in with five wins in 11 starts due to injuries. He’s got a 2.85 GAA with a .911 save percentage and one shutout in a 33-save win against Boston on Dec. 4. Luongo ranks fourth all-time with 476 career wins. That trails only Ed Belfour (484), Patrick Roy (551) and all-time leader Martin Brodeur (691).
Keep an eye on Mike Matheson. Following a slow start, he’s got points in each of his last four games. The overlooked young defenseman is up to 13 points (2-11-13). He doesn’t get the notoriety of Yandle (leads D with 21 assists and 25 points) or Ekblad (leads D with 5 goals), but is a good skating defenseman that also must be paid close attention to. Basically, despite being a tire fire at even strength, the Panthers boast the kind of skilled blueliners I wish the Rangers had. They don’t lack talent. Barkov has yet to explode. Dadonov is very good. Huberdeau remains one of the most overlooked playmaking forwards in the game. His 24 helpers and 31 points lead the Cats.
Prior to the previous game when he was held off the score sheet, Huberdeau had six posted six straight multiple point games, going 3-11-14. He is a terrific passer, who’s lethal in transition. Ask the Devils.
They’re not getting consistent secondary scoring. Nick Bjugstad is a disappointment with just four goals in 27 contests. Jarred McCann has 10 points and Troy Brouwer has six goals with none in the past seven. Frank Vatrano has been productive with eight markers. Colton Sceviour has seven points and is a plus-four on a roster of minuses.
Basically, play the Panthers five-on-five and limit mistakes that can fuel their transition. If the Rangers can do that, they’ll win for the first time in regulation on the road.
After a few days off we’re at my least favorite time of the year as a hockey fan – the Sleepy Coast trip. Whether I stay up to watch the games on a weeknight depends on both how the team’s playing and how much the game generally means in the standings. Last year, both boxes were checked off but it was a moot point anyway since the first two games of our California swing last year were on Saturday and Sunday night, and the last game in San Jose was over so quickly I didn’t have to stay up for the finish. This year with the team playing poorly I’m not exactly that motivated for weeknight California hockey. Even though as it turned out I could have gotten away with staying up for most of the game, I didn’t really feel like bothering to watch one bad team with six straight losses play another bad team who’s already gotten its coach fired in LA.
Might coach John Hynes soon follow John Stevens to the unemployment line? Certainly it seems like he is worried about his job security given his desperation move to play Keith Kinkaid yet again last night despite Kinkaid’s own struggles the last two weeks (allowing four or more goals in his last five starts). Clearly Cory Schneider is now radioactive for both the fanbase and the coaching staff. If that’s the case, then quite frankly why is he still here? Obviously we’re not getting out from under his contract anytime soon whether we waive Cory or not, but if Hynes and/or GM Ray Shero have any interest in trying to salvage this season it’s clear they have to find a way to get better goaltending from somewhere else, whether it’s bringing up suddenly hot prospect Mackenzie Blackwood for a couple of spot starts or bringing in a vet from the outside. Cory being an AHL-caliber goaltender is problematic for two reasons, the automatic loss you take when you play him and running Keith into the ground the way he has been the last couple weeks when you have a one-goalie rotation.
Sure the decision to play Keith ‘worked’ last night if you want to call giving up three goals to a bad offense while getting even more goalpost luck working, but Kinkaid’s not a goalie that can handle a 65-70 game workload, the last few weeks have proven that. Sounded like last night he was more fortunate than good but hey a win’s a win for the coach so onward with Kinkaid until he gets hurt or has a losing streak to match Cory’s regular season futility (which he might have had if the Kings weren’t laughably bad themselves this season)! It kind of reminds me of when former coach Pete DeBoer went down with the ship during the lockout season playing backup Johan Hedberg everyday despite a long losing streak, because he had no confidence in playing a rookie goalie in a big spot. That rookie goalie was Kinkaid, so I guess things have come full circle in a sense.
Speaking of goaltending, for all my ragging on our two goalies the worst goalie that actually played last night was in the Kings’ net. Like Cory, Jonathan Quick has had his own injury problems in recent years, although until this year it hasn’t really affected his play. Seeing Quick with a 3.52 GAA and .884 save percentage in eight starts (just one win) reminds me that it sure isn’t 2012 anymore, when Quick was the biggest reason the Devils and 40-year old Martin Brodeur were denied a storybook fourth Cup win. Of course like us, the Kings are a bad team now too which isn’t going to help a goaltender’s numbers, or his concentration level on a nightly basis.
In some ways it’s depressing to see how far both organizations have fallen in such a short time, particularly ours since until this year the Kings were in win-now mode and still have several players remaining from that Cup team (not to mention the KHL traitor who played with us in 2012, but skipped out to Russia soon after and is now ‘back’ in the NHL with the Kings, albeit on IR for a few weeks). While the Devils have only won a single playoff game since 2012, the Kings won another Cup in 2014 and made the playoffs four times in the previous six years, although like us they also had diminshing returns the last few years – missing the playoffs twice and being punted in the first round winning just a single game in two series against the Sharks three years ago and the Golden Knights last year.
Given all that, the Kings’ decision to double down on winning now by bringing in guys like the aformentioned Ilya Kovalchuk and washed-up Dion Phaneuf is even more laughable now than it was as a first-guess. I’ve seen this script before as a Devils fan, from 2013-15 under Lou Lamoriello when he made similar win-now moves to try to keep the good times going longer than realistically possible. Even 2012 was a gift from the hockey gods after the Devils had been a boring first-round and out team the previous few seasons followed by the John MacLean disaster. You wonder whether history would have changed if the Devils lose one of those final two OT’s to the Panthers in the first round, would Lou have actually rebuilt at some point, or been replaced sooner? I’m glad we don’t have to find out since 2012 was the most enjoyable non-Cup run I’ve ever had as a fan (1994 I was too young a fan to really remember at that point, plus it got overshadowed by everything Rangers that year).
Still, by 2015 the franchise had hit a low point having the majority of the building cheer the Rangers for a President’s Cup clinching while we were booed off the ice fittingly after a clown show of a game and season. It may make fans feel better to still blame everything on Lou since – god knows the Cory trade looks horrible knowing now what Lou knew then about Kovalchuk’s impending departure overseas – but the fact is this is Shero’s team now. Only two players remain from that 2012 team, the fast-declining Andy Greene and the workmanlike center Travis Zajac. Others were in the organization when we still had the semblance of a winning culture, but whatever gains were made last year in the Devils’ scintillating run to the playoffs have been lost so far this year in a stretch of misery reminiscent of so many other recent hopeless Devil seasons.
And the fact is until 2013, Lou’s organization was remarkably successful at winning, not to mention he and former player Brendan Shanahan made the playoffs two straight years in Toronto and now Lou looks like he’s going to somehow make the playoffs again with an Islander team that should by all rights be rebuilding after losing its best player this offseason (just our luck the Caps decide to boot Barry Trotz out the door after a Cup win and he lands on Long Island). You can argue all you want about Lou’s win-now approach, god knows I wish he’d done some things differently in his final years like not overrely on slug skaters in a league of speed, or give up the Matteau pick in 2012 so we’d have been drafting 11 instead of 30 two years later which was the John Quenneville pick. Drafting 11 where we theoretically could have gotten a guy like Dylan Larkin instead of drafting one guy who’s washed out of the NHL and another who can’t win a job in the first place would have been nice.
That said, it’s a loser mentality to continue to blame Lou four years later for our struggles now. Shero had his own opportunity to trade Cory once he took office and didn’t take it. He kept Greene seemingly through his expiration date and brought in the rest of this defensive core that stinks. He stood pat this offseason with millions of cap space available, fatally relying on Pavel Zacha to center the second line. Instead Zacha and other younger players like Miles Wood and Will Butcher have all gone backwards this year under Hynes’ hand-picked staff, well I should say staff 2.0 since he had to replace assistants Geoff Ward and Ryane Clowe this offseason. And the fact is despite last year and Taylor Hall we’re still in the wilderness and have completely lost any semblance of a winning tradition.
Even three years off from 2012 at the end of Lou’s tenure you could tell things were a lot different. Six years now seems like another generation ago. Heck, even last year seems a long way off at this point.
The wonders of Internet photoshopping…sometimes a picture can tell a whole story. For the younger fans who don’t know what Mickey Mouse has to do with the Devils, hockey’s GOAT Wayne Gretzky once bitterly called the Devils a ‘Mickey Mouse organization’ in their early days. While he regretted the insult later on, it’s stuck as both a rallying cry in good times and a convenient insult when things aren’t going so well. Right now we’re clearly in the latter of the two situations.
Actually right now comparing the Devils to Mickey Mouse is an insult to Mickey.
I’m running out of different ways to say the same things after every game. Our negative stats keep on piling up. Now the team has just five wins in twenty-two games after the 4-0 start. Add in a season sweep at the hands of the neighborhood bully Tampa Bay – who outscored us 18-6 in the three games – a powerless play that continues to fire blanks and a starting goalie that’s given up four or more goals in five straight games (and no, I’m not referring to Cory Schneider this time) and you have a recipe for disaster.
Coach – but for how much longer? – John Hynes is desperately searching for answers, even benching reigning league MVP Taylor Hall for long stretches in the last half of the game. It was a deserved benching honestly, if for no other reason than Hall’s been so bad the last couple games I didn’t even notice he was benched for the final seven plus minutes of the second period. Not that I was really paying much attention at that point in general. Once again after a decent first ten minutes the Devils cowered under their chairs against Tampa, who wasn’t even that great but before you know it another Devil powerless play gave them momentum and Keith Kinkaid giving up a soft goal to Devil-killer Nikita Kucherov didn’t help matters at all.
Guess I shouldn’t have gone to this game in the first place, and because it was a weeknight I figured I wouldn’t see as many people I knew around as I did Saturday. However, since I had missed so many home games earlier in the season, and because they wouldn’t be back at the Rock for another couple of weeks with the dreaded West Coast swing coming up I figured I’d make myself go – and if things went awry with nobody around I’d be exiting stage left after the second period.
Usually my rule is I don’t leave a game early unless the team’s down five after two periods but on a night like this really, what was the point of staying? As I’ve said before I don’t mind going solo to games, but when nobody else I know personally is in the building at all like tonight, there’s no fun left in just sitting there to watch a trainwreck. Right now watching this team is a chore. Down three goals after the second period with zero sign of life, with a full Tampa power play to start the third and our best PK’er (Blake Coleman) in the box, that was as good as a four-goal deficit for me and that was even before I knew Hynes was hooking Kinkaid for Cory.
Poor Cory gave up a softie to Steven Stamkos and I’m sure earned his share of boos too, at least from the people who were still there. For a Monday night pre-winter crowd, it was decent in terms of attendance but the patrons were not happy with what they saw. The early failed power play (which I actually thought was the worst I’d seen from this team yet this year) earned loud boos, which were reprised at the end of the first period after falling behind by two goals. Anger gave way to apathy in the second period as the team went down three goals and continued to play stupidly like when Miles Wood canceled out a power play with an ill-timed roughing penalty.
Truth be told I wasn’t even that unhappy considering the state of our power play plus it was nice to see a little emotion from Wood at least, even if horribly mistimed. Perhaps the most apt punking of the night came when poor Egor Yakovlev scored his first career NHL goal, but right when PA announcer Kevin Clark started announcing it Tampa regained its three-goal lead (and quelled any emotion from the goal announcement) when Yanni Gourde made it 4-1, basically ending the game as a contest. Ironically that was the only goal Kucherov didn’t get a point on tonight, as he continues to use us as his personal whipping boy.
Between the Hall benching and captain Andy Greene calling tonight’s performance ‘unacceptable’ maybe something will come to a head soon. Clearly everyone’s getting testy, even the head coach made an…interesting comment in the postgame:
#NJDevils John Hynes on #TBLightning: "They are a cap team. They have excellent players, high skill. But look at tonight's game, I remember Tyler Johnson, it was 5-1 + he was backchecking full throttle. That's what those guys do. What they've done for three games is outworked us"
A shot at GM Ray Shero and/or ownership perhaps? I might be overthinking things but it’s odd – to put it mildly – that Hynes would make an unsolicited comment about Tampa being a cap team. Not that I mind someone pointing out (even if tacitly) that we’re far from one ourselves, but I’m not sure the comment made Shero all that happy with his head coach. Or maybe they’re already having issues behind the scenes and that prompted the cap team comment?
While it’s one thing to want the head coach out, as I said a few days ago it’s hard to really picture who the replacement is at this moment. I seriously doubt the next head coach is on the current staff. Hopefully the team somehow comes together and picks it up on the West Coast but with each game that passes by it seems less and less likely and the hole just gets deeper, even in a mediocre East.
It was a weekend to forget for the Blueshirts. First, they continued their road woes by being so uncompetitive in an all too predictable 5-2 loss at the House of Horrors up in Montreal. It truly was embarrassing. They were so bad that it took the Canadiens scoring the game’s first four goals before coach David Quinn used a timeout to gather his overwhelmed team together and let them know they are better than this.
Initially, it worked. After basically handing the Habs a 4-0 lead with Brady Skjei the main culprit on three, they responded by getting the next two goals before the second period concluded. Jimmy Vesey scored his ninth and set up Ryan Strome on the power play to cut the deficit in half. Strome is continuing to impress since coming over from Edmonton for Ryan Spooner. He almost had a second consecutive goal on a great set up from slumping freshman Brett Howden. However, Strome blew the wide open chance with half the net to shoot at due to shanking it off the outside of the post. Had he converted, who knows what could’ve been.
Instead, the Canadiens regrouped thanks to a boneheaded penalty by Skjei for delay of game. Of course, Montreal took advantage with rejuvenated forward Tomas Tatar rebounding home his 11th past a frustrated Alexandar Georgiev for a 5-2 lead. At one point in the second following a second consecutive Canadiens two-on-one from the same side, resulting in noted sniper Arturri Lehkonen making it 3-0 after a awful pinch by Skjei, the rookie goalie broke his goalstick against the cage. He learned from the best, Henrik Lundqvist. He expressed later that he felt he could’ve stopped it. None of the five Montreal goals were his fault.
The Rangers were badly outplayed, getting outshot 41-22, including 31-17 through two periods. They were defensively inept. A bad trend that started in the hideous 4-0 shutout loss at the Flyers on Black Friday. They haven’t been working smart enough. In dropping their fifth game in the last six on Sunday night, by blowing a 3-0 lead in the third period to the explosive Winnipeg Jets 4-3 in a shootout, the effort has been disjointed. It’s leading to inconsistency and being totally dominated like last night when the Jets outshot them 42-19.
It took Winnipeg a little longer to solve Lundqvist, who was remarkable on a special night the Rangers organization honored Vic Hadfield by retiring his Number 11 to the rafters. The gritty and tough physical left wing, who captained the team while doing the dirty work on the franchise’s best line, centered by Jean Ratelle and flanked by Rod Gilbert, was the first Ranger to reach 50 goals in a single season. Playing on the G-A-G (Goal-A-Game) Line, his best season came during ’71-72 when he achieved career bests with 50 goals and 56 assists for 106 points. That included 23 power play goals and another 27 at even strength. It also included 142 penalty minutes, seven game-winners and 44 of his 56 assists at even strength. That means he totaled 71 even strength points. A remarkable number.
Hadfield was accompanied by his linemates, Gilbert and Ratelle along with The Cat, Emile Francis. The list of retired numbers included Mark Messier, Adam Graves, Ed Giacomin, Mike Richter, Brian Leetch, Gilbert and Ratelle. His beautiful family was on the ice for the bone chilling ceremony. As usual, it was very classy from the Rangers. Check out the look the prideful man, who scored 262 goals and tallied 310 assists for 572 points as a Blueshirt, had as he hugged his grandchildren.
Hadfield meant so much to those teams that challenged for the Stanley Cup in the early 70’s. If only Ratelle had been fully healthy in 1972 when they lost to the powerful Bruins led by Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito. The Rangers lost the Stanley Cup Final in six games. My father was there when Orr skated the Cup. Crazy. He still harbors ill will towards Francis for breaking that team up. Hadfield was unceremoniously dumped to the Penguins following ’73-74 for Nick Beverley on May 27, 1974. Hadfield was still productive into his mid-30’s scoring 31 goals and 30 with Pittsburgh his final two full seasons. A knee injury against Toronto ended his career in 1976.
After going 8-5-13 during the ’71 Playoffs, Hadfield put up seven goals and nine assists for 16 points in ’72. He certainly did his part. Gilbert had 15 points and Bobby Rousseau led the team with 17. Other notables included Bill Fairburn, ’71 overtime hero Pete Stemkowski, Brad Park, Walt Tkaczuk, Ted Irvine, Bruce MacGregor and Dale Rolfe. Ratelle came back from a broken ankle, but was ineffective versus Boston. He had one assist in six games. Ironically, the break came on a Rolfe shot that he tried to redirect in a game against the California Golden Seals in March of ’72.
Me being intrigued by history including being a JFK conspiracy theorist, I find it ironic that Ratelle would break his ankle when he couldn’t be stopped. Gilbert suffered the same fate in ’68. At the time, Ratelle had tied Gilbert’s franchise record point streak at 13. I guess it was truly an unlucky number.
The GAG Line still has a NHL record for most total points combined as a line. That’s because they stayed intact for six years until Hadfield was traded in ’74. The special ’72 season saw them total 312 points even with Ratelle’s injury that kept him out the first two rounds.
So, how can I go back to assessing the Rangers blowing a three-goal lead in a brutal third? Well, I’ll be honest. I enjoyed writing about the history of the G-A-G Line. They were amazing. I wish I could’ve seen them play. That must’ve been truly special. Don’t forget Gilles Villemure was the other goalie behind Giacomin. They shared the Vezina in ’70-71.
The Rangers scored three times on 11 shots against Connor Hellebuyck. He’s having a miserable year with over a 3.00 GAA and below a .900 save percentage. That continued on goals from Jesper Fast (first since Opening Night), Marc Staal and Chris Kreider (team best 14th on the power play). While the goals Fast and Kreider scored Hellebuyck had little chance on, he allowed Staal to beat him far side with a clear sighted shot. A term Steve Valiquette uses on MSG. It still was a pretty good shot by Staal, who drove it off the far post and in for his second in four games. He also assisted on Fast’s tally. Not bad for the veteran who had only one goal in 72 games last season.
The problem was the Rangers got little attack time throughout. There was a huge discrepancy in territorial play. Even with a nice edge in faceoffs (39-23), it didn’t matter due to Winnipeg. They have TMT. Too much talent. Even without concussed defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, they came at the Rangers in waves. Boasting arguably the league’s best talent that features Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler, Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor, they are flat out scary. The amount of speed and skill they have is insane. Nikolaj Ehlers and Thrashers hold over Bryan Little are no slouches either.
With an all out attack that allows defensemen such as underrated Josh Morrissey to activate, they can swarm you. Imagine what Lundqvist had to deal with. He was the only reason this was competitive. He robbed Connor twice in the second and denied other dangerous Jets several times.
A god awful Brendan Smith penalty opened the door. It didn’t take long for Scheifele to finish a Wheeler pass right in the slot. Jack Roslovic took advantage of the Rangers defense which was preoccupied with other Jets players in front of Lundqvist. While that was going on, he cut to the middle away from Lias Andersson and fired a bullet for another Winnipeg goal. Two goals within 2:26 changed the whole complexion.
Lundqvist continued to come up with miraculous saves to keep his team in front. The Rangers had a few solid shifts where they got the puck deep including one from veteran Matt Beleskey. A Hartford recall, the 30-year old played on the fourth line with Steven Fogarty and Vinni Lettieri. Tim Gettinger was sent down. That’s okay. Let him develop more. Beleskey can supply the role Cody McLeod filled. It’s interesting to note that they’re 1-4-1 since his injury. Just saying.
The best chance to regain a two-goal lead came from Filip Chytil. He made a good move out of the corner, but missed. There wasn’t much else going on offensively.
I wondered if they could hang on. Would the Jets pull Hellebuyck for a six-on-five? It never even reached that point. Instead, like a flash, Ehlers breezed into the zone with Kevin Shattenkirk backing up. That spelled doom. Ehlers wisely aimed a low hard shot that Lundqvist couldn’t control. The rebound went right to Little, who buried it to tie the score with 2:30 remaining. There was nothing the Rangers could’ve done differently. They had numbers back. But the rebound went right by Fredrik Claesson before he could react. It was a set play.
It could’ve been worse. They could’ve not gotten a point like the Capitals, who mystifyingly blew a five-goal lead on home ice in a crushing 6-5 loss to the Ducks. The three-on-three was a joke. If you thought what Scheifele and Company did to the Devils was bad, you should’ve seen what this overtime looked like. A total mismatch. Winnipeg had eight shots on Lundqvist, who basically stood on his head robbing Connor and Laine just to take it to a shootout.
Mika Zibanejad (2 assists) scored on his patented forehand deke snapshot on Hellebuyck in Round Two. But Laine went high bar and then Jimmy Vesey missed. That left it up to Scheifele, who finished it by going low underneath the glove of a dejected Lundqvist, who reacted negatively to a silly question from true pro John Giannone.
He asked about the first Winnipeg goal swinging the momentum. Lundqvist looked at him strangely and said what everyone was thinking:
“Momentum?!?! What game were we watching? They owned us.”
I know Giannone has a tough job, made harder by the production truck. But that was totally a bad time for such an awkward question. He had a look of death on his face. Think Adam Sandler in my favorite movie of his, The Wedding Singer.
They had waited and waited for this day. Ever since it was announced that the Islanders would play some of their home schedule back at the Nassau Coliseum, Saturday, December 1 was marked on the calendar by diehard fans. And so if you bleed orange and dark blue, do yourself a favor and watch the nice tribute video above on their return. Even as a rival fan who gets the passion Islanders fans have for this franchise on Long Island, I enjoyed it.
When they played that final time in the first round of the 2015 Playoffs, they sent those fans off happy with a 3-1 win over the Capitals in Game Six on Apr. 25, 2015. A tough first round series they lost in seven two days later. This is what the final home introduction sounded like for that game.
As a Rangers fan and blogger, that’s the first time I watched that. Honestly, I think what they did was awesome for those fans. I’m a huge fan of classic video montages showcasing the team’s history. It was fun to see and gave me a new perspective on the Long Island side of the rivalry.
The Islanders are Long Island. They are that New York team who played their home games off the Meadowbrook Parkway and Southern State. I never attended a game there. I have been to the arena four times. Once for the old Barnum and Bailey Circus with my cousin. Twice for Monday Night Nitro with my brother. Once with the legendary Maven, Stan Fischler on a very cold winter day for a special Isles shoot.
It might be an old arena getting a new look. However, ask my Dad about seeing a game there. He’ll tell you there isn’t a bad seat in the house with great sight lines. Of course, the old narrative of it being a dump has been more played out than a hot take from a Corsi enthusiast. Sure. It’s not beautiful. But it doesn’t have to be. If you poll most old Rangers fans on the renovation, it’s been unsuccessful. The new MSG has lost its luster and become way too corporate. You can’t even walk downstairs anymore in the arena. From the over priced food to the lack of atmosphere due to increased costs, it’s no longer full.
One thing about old arenas and stadiums. They have appeal and a built in history. I’ve never been to the new Stadium to see the Yankees. I know just from watching, it doesn’t measure up. Nothing compares to the old Stadium. That was the House that Ruth built. Not the Golden Palace. At least when I went to Citi Field once, it felt like a baseball stadium.
For three years, the Islanders have played home games at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. It’s not a good arena for hockey. Why they chose to partner with the Nets never made any sense. It was never gonna work. That’s a basketball venue. It also is a inconvenience for loyal Islanders fans, who were accustomed to driving to see their team play. Public transportation isn’t bad. But when most of your fanbase is from Long Island, it’s not around the corner. You’re talking about the Long Island Railroad and the MTA. With unrealistic ticket and food expenses, they were never going to draw.
It won’t be until 2021 that the new arena in Belmont will be completed. Construction isn’t expected to begin until Spring next year. So, the Isles have another two seasons following this one splitting home games between Brooklyn and Long Island at the old barn.
Judging from the way the crowd and team responded to their first game back at the Coliseum on Saturday night, it was amazing. The energy that was on display from the stands to the ice was unbelievable. When fans have that kind of love for a team, it shows why they never should’ve moved in the first place. Shame on all the corrupt politicians in Nassau County for not seeing how much the Islanders mean to those fans.
Even when they fell behind the Blue Jackets by a pair of goals, I never got a sense the Islanders were out of it. With plenty of “Let’s Go Islanders, Let’s Go Islanders,” chants reverberating throughout a packed arena, it was the new captain Anders Lee, who got the first goal in classic Lee fashion. Parked in front of Columbus starter Sergei Bobrovsky, he had a Jordan Eberle rebound carom off him and just over the goal line. Initially, they waved it off. But there was no doubt it would get reversed. When it did, Lee’s ninth goal was announced to thunderous cheers.
Thank you to everyone that came out last night and all the hard work to get everything ready for the game. It was an electric atmosphere and a very memorable one.
The Isles were back. You knew it was only a matter of time before they got the game tied. Sure enough, Anthony Beauvillier got free in open space and steered in his own rebound from Josh Bailey and Scott Mayfield, tying the score at two. That was two goals in a 4:25 span. No doubt spurred on by the enthusiasm in the building.
There’s something about fans and old arenas. They’re louder. Maybe it’s the fact the seats are right on top of the ice unlike most new state of the art facilities. The acoustics are completely different. It was similar at Yankee Stadium when I went to games with Justin and Ivan in the early 90’s before they were good. That was when they drew like 18,000. The energy in the place always gave you a different feeling. You genuinely felt you made a difference when they did something good or won. I was at Dwight Gooden’s no-hitter. I know about this.
That’s exactly how it sounded at NYC Live/Nassau Coliseum before 13,197 screaming and adoring fans the other night. Once Lee scored to get them on the scoreboard, you knew they were coming back to win. There was no way they would be denied. Much like that 3-1 victory versus the Caps over three years ago to force a Game Seven. Players feed off that energy.
It was Ryan Pulock, who patiently held onto the puck skating around the net to feed a wide open Casey Cizikas for the game-winner with 12:51 left in regulation. The reaction from the crowd told the story. Even if you grew up hating this team like I have, you had to feel good for the fans. That is their team and always will be.
Everything from the organ playing to the crowd for old familiar chants for winning goalie Thomas Greiss worked. When a proven coach like Barry Trotz admits that playing in that arena meant a lot and could be worth an extra 12 points due to the home ice advantage, you begin to understand exactly why the Isles belong in Nassau Coliseum. They have another 20 games left at the old barn.
The same place that blew the roof off when popular cult hero Shawn Bates scored on this emotional penalty shot against Curtis Joseph to win Game Four of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal versus the Maple Leafs. Listen to the eruption and play-by-play call of Howie Rose.
Here also is how it sounded on ESPN2. A classic seven-game first round series I worked on as a statistical hockey researcher for ESPN back in the glory days.
In rewatching Game 7 of that closely fought intense series, they really should’ve won. The Leafs held on to win 5-3 to take the series at Air Canada Centre. They had enough experience and skill to prevail thanks to key performances from Alexander Mogilny, Gary Roberts and Joseph. The same series that public enemy number one Darcy Tucker low bridged Michael Peca in Game Five, knocking him out of the remainder. It really shortened the former Islander captain’s career. It was dirty. That was a very different era of hockey where anything went. Personally, I don’t think all the artificial changes they made have been good. Some had to happen like Player Safety legislating dangerous hits. But other stuff I still don’t understand.
I’m really happy for Islanders fans. They finally get to go back to Nassau Coliseum and cheer on their team. Even if it’s not every home game, it’s good to see. It won’t last forever. But moments like Saturday are special. Hearing what it meant to some players including the game’s number one star Cizikas, is bone chilling. A nice touch by Trotz having the fan favorite fourth line of Cizikas, Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck start the game.
The franchise’s first ever captain, Ed Westfall was in the house. The crowd was alive. And the old barn was on fire. Just the way it should be. The Islanders were back. Right where they belong.
After a total unmitigated disaster and tease to end all teases like tonight, where to start?
Start from the pregame I suppose, where I was seriously debating not going to this game, but an inability to sell my pair of tickets combined with just flat-out talking myself into going on a weekend night rationalizing (correctly as it turned out) I’d at least see a couple of friends at the arena led to a last-minute change of heart. I don’t actually mind sitting by myself during the games since I zone in and hardly talk during play but pregame and intermission especially is another story. When I’m not with anyone I wind up walking the concourse more than using my phone during breaks in the action. I do wind up using my phone more if the game itself is annoying me though. While I didn’t see anyone in the pregame I did wind up running into an arena friend during the first intermission and one of my better friends was sitting in my section so I wound up talking with her after the second period and OT. So at least the night wasn’t going to be a total loss.
As for the game I was fully expecting a beatdown from the Jets which would be lunacy if we were talking about football, but not so much here. Especially after they destroyed us in Winnipeg a few weeks back, and have had a lot of success against this team in recent years. And why not with a bigger, stronger, more well-coached group? They are one of the best teams in the league, and the Devils right now…are not. Even with Keith Kinkaid in goal instead of hopeless Cory Schneider which tells you all you need to know about what the Devils think of their goaltending situation when Kinkaid is starting a back-to-back in different cities, after arguably his worst game of the season last night.
Of course at least with Keith you have the illusion of thinking you’re going to win. And through the first period it was actually the guys in red who were the far superior team. Maybe home magic would carry the day once again? Sure looked like it after Marcus Johansson of all people made a nice block at one end of the ice, then scored on the other end. If there is a bright spot in recent games (besides the Energizer Bunny named Blake Coleman) it’s the sudden return to life of #90 on the scoresheet, really for the first time as a Devil other than his great game against a bad Sabres team early last year.
With the Devils being the Devils however, they couldn’t extend the lead despite dominating the first period. Of course two early power plays failed spectacularly as usual, and a botched play by Mirco Mueller in the second period led to a goal and might have earned him a return seat in the scratch box. First Mueller held the puck forever on a three-on-two without shooting or passing it cross-ice, finally dropping it back to Miles Wood who of course missed the net. It would have been nice if Mr. I only care about offense now that I got my contract actually you know, hit the net. Then Mueller compounds his role in botching the 3-on-2 by falling out of the play on the defensive end, probably lost an edge on bad Prudential Center ice but whatever the case neither he or Sami Vatanen could prevent Blake Wheeler’s perfect feed to Mark Scheifele to tie the game.
All that as it turned out was merely a prelude to an insane third period and OT.
Actually most of the third period was an utter bore – there’s no other way to put it…for the better part of fifteen minutes the Devils went through the motions and finally, inexorably the Jets took the lead midway through the period when we had almost the slowest possible lineup we could ice with Brian Boyle, Drew Stafford, Andy Greene and Ben Lovejoy on the ice all getting their eyes rolled around in their sockets by the Jets’ superior skating and passing. Really, go to NHL.com and pull up this goal (or go about two minutes in to see the brief highlight of it), you’ll laugh at how silly everyone on the ice is made to look. Our wonderful defense and system also looked silly on Winnipeg’s third goal of the night where all five skaters got caught on the left side of the ice leaving the front of the net wide open for Andrew Copp to score off his own rebound, seemingly putting the game away.
To exacerbate my anger at the team even more, the refs seemingly stopped calling things in the third period as if it was 1998. Kyle Palmieri got held for so long seconds before Copp’s goal earning resounding boos from the crowd, that was so bad even an NFL ref would call that holding. Finally the Devils got another power play, not that it was going to matter with five minutes left with our powerless play 0-for-our last whatever, I lost count. Things got so bad with the man advantage coach John Hynes finally scratched the struggling Will Butcher, but even that didn’t jolt the first couple of power plays earlier in the game. While I was texting one of my other friends who sits across the arena from me that I didn’t think we were getting a goal he predicted we’d get one now that the game was all but out of reach, then lose 4-2 on an empty-netter.
He seemed to be right when finally the power play jolted to life thanks to the mini-Energizer bunny in Jesper Bratt. My reaction at this point was more amusement than anything else, now figuring Rudy’s prediction to be on the money (as usual). It seemed only a matter of time when we pulled the goalie with just over two minutes remaining that Winnipeg would score the empty-net goal to seal things up, just like the Caps did last night and many other teams have done this season.
Except this time the Devils flipped the script and jolted what was left of the crowd (many of whom had left after the Jets’ third goal) back to life after Taylor Hall scored, culminating a netmouth scramble that seemed to last several seconds – minutes it seemed to me. Hall actually made a play that almost defied belief, leaping over the goalie’s pads to get in postion to swat home a rebound and redeemed himself from an otherwise poor game. Now they had me again…after a very brief goalie review that scared the dickens out of me, especially when I saw skates making contact with the goalie in the crease. This time even Toronto didn’t mess things up for us and the goal stood. I was legit excited, as much as for any goal this season.
By all rights now, the Devils should have, HAD to win this game really – even with the dreaded 3-on-3 OT looming. And winning this game could have been the spark that saved a struggling team’s season. On the team’s first shift it looked like they were finally going to break the curse when Hall and Nico Hischier got a 2-on-0 break on Jets goalie Laurent Brossoit. This was going to be the moment…that we would get kicked in the teeth irrevocably. Everyone in the building thought a goal was inevitable, but Hischier passed the puck too far away from the net and Hall never returned the pass. Yes, two of the Devils’ three most high-profile offensive players somehow managed to screw up a 2-on-0.
3-on-3 or not, I don’t remember ever seeing a two-on-the goalie breakaway fail before. I remember way back in 1999 when Martin Brodeur stopped an initial 2-on-0 shot against the Penguins in Game 7, but they scored off the rebound anyway. Now the air was sucked out of me and probably the rest of the building. Yet OT still went on, while we had one or two more good chances the Jets seemingly ended the game themselves a couple minutes later when Kinkaid stoned uberscorer Patrik Laine, then gave the puck away in the slot to Kyle Connor for another prime scoring chance but bailed himself out with a sterling glove save. So sure did that shot look to be a goal both me and Rudy across the arena were out of our seats ready to leave the premises until realizing incredibly that Kinkaid had kept that puck out. At this point the game had jumped the shark.
Sadly I was actually praying for the shootout, especially since Hynes had restored shootout specialist Stafford into the lineup, I figured our better chance to win was the skills competition. Despite the end-to-end action it looked as if we’d get our first chance at the shootout lottery this year, until Hischier culminated a nightmarish OT by failing to clear the puck out of the defensive zone with less than half a minute remaining, then getting stripped from behind and falling down out of the play so Vatanen was left alone to defend a 3-on-1, with the predictable end result of Schiefele putting home his own rebound. At least one team knows how to score with a two-man advantage on the goalie.
I wouldn’t say Hischier lost the game himself, but his disasterous OT was the ugly end of a lot of disasters tonight. Really this team didn’t even deserve the loser point after how they sleepwalked through the third period. And get that moral victory junk out of here, this was another point lost that could have, should have been won. We’re six points out of a playoff spot in a bad East where seemingly nobody else is out of the race. At this point we’d be doing well to have our hideous 3-on-3 record cost us a playoff spot the way our 0-13 shootout record cost us a spot in 2013-14. We just might match that level of futility in the 3-on-3 though.
This was seriously the most gutted I felt walking out of that arena since Game 3 2012. To lose that game after the way you tied it (and after already having been teased in a similar but somehow less annoying fashion against the Isles a week or so back), with this team in the dire straits it is felt like it went from a potential season-saver to a season-ender. Now I’m wondering if I should no-show Monday the way I wanted to no-show Saturday. Odds are most of my other friends aren’t going to be at that game. On the bright side, the odds are probably better I’ll be out of there after two periods with the game 5-1 or 6-1 – no matter who’s in net we’ve been destroyed by Tampa this year. And really how can this team respond from a loss like that? Especially with the utter lack of a system and brainpower this group has as a unit.
And to top this night off I come home to see the news of the Mets’ dopey Robinson Cano trade being official. With the Jets being a disaster, the Mets’ agent GM getting duped and horrendously overpaying in a trade for his biggest-name former client and the Devils being a mess tonight’s a night where I think about WFAN host/fan Joe Benigno and his oft-repeated line about how he doesn’t want to know anything about sports in his next life, should he have one. Right now that sounds pretty good to me.
hasan4978
Derek
Battle Of Hudson 
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